


Ties that once kept us together

by Anrim



Series: What are we ? [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), Batman: The Animated Series
Genre: Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Barbie deserved better, Big Brother Dick Grayson, Child Death, Damian Wayne Feels, Damian Wayne is Robin, Damian Wayne-centric, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson is Batman, Dick has redhead fetish, F/F, F/M, Jason Todd Has Issues, Jason Todd is Demon's head, Jason is also Shiva's kid, Multi, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown is Batgirl, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-07 03:30:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19076587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anrim/pseuds/Anrim
Summary: After few years of adjusting to his new life, friends and family ex heir to the Al Ghul throne must face his past and it's ghosts if he ever wants to be free of his bloody history.After years of suffering as the underdog to the Shadows Jason finally decides that enough is enough, he has means,idea and wish to change the world, will he succeed ?And Dick ?, he just wants to sleep and have his boyfriend back dammit !Or overly simplified who is better brother tierd Dick or crazy Jason(spoiler but Dick's winning)(Sequel to Man in Red)





	Ties that once kept us together

**Author's Note:**

> This took ages and i am not writing anything ever again, if someone doesn't understand something it's not you it's me, feel free to point it out, i wrote this over computer and without my glasses,there will be mistakes, and i just figured how discriminated us phone users are...
> 
> PS my crazy jason had cute but deadly child before Belfire's did, it just wasn't published XD

-Man in Red

" Would you -" Taller boy started, his sky blue eyes shining with hope

"No" Came the reply from the other boy, his face turned  in a scowl as he tried to see other boy's cards from under bundle of his jet black hair.

"Common I didn't even say a thing" Boy in blue pouted and pulled a card

" You didn't have to Jon, I have displeasure  of knowing  you "Sliver eyed boy gruffly replied, his scowl deepening when he saw his opponent's card.

"Awww Dami I love you too"Jon replied with a smug smile, wrapping his hands around the loser.

"I, by no means like you Kent, remove you hands before I do something I'll regret" Damian all but growled and tried to pull himself out of the bear hug.

"Aww Dami so you would regret hurting me, I knew you cared" Shifting back to avoid the hit, Superboy started laughing .

"Boys, behave"Dick Grayson called out from his place on the sofa, giving his little brother pointed look.

"It is not my fault he is an imbecile Grayson" Damian defended himself, sending stony glare towards still laughing half-Kryptonian.

"Damian what did I say about name-calling" Dick called out again, with sterner look this time.

"I am not five Grayson" Boy scowled and shifted deeper into cushions

"Damian "Like a annoying fly Grayson called out yet again and because of the weight of his unyielding glare and look of  mock hurt on his friend's face Damian caved in.

"Very well I apologize for saying the truth " It sounded the most reasonable anyway,no way he is going to apologize fot anything else.  
"Dam-" Dear god what now ?!

"It's ok Dick, I don't mind"Jon said happily, not bothered in slightest.

"Yes because you know I am speaking the truth" Damian reasoned, thank god Kent understood.

"No, but because I know you don't mean it"Jon replied with same dose of enthusiasm, holding his head high.

"Tsk whatever floats your boat Kent" Damian decided, he had enough of these imbeciles,no better way to show the fool wrong then by ignoring them.

"You didn't say no" Jon said in a singsong voice with such wide grin that it could give Joker run for his money

"For god's sake" Was the only reply the other two got after Damian buried his head into pile of cards .

_______________

Jason stood up proudly watching as the Shadows, his Shadows did the same.

He nodded towards Jade who nodded back and raised her sword, still covered in blood of the fallen.

"Long live the Demon's head" Jade yelled proudly and bowed before him and he watched as everybody did the same, repeating her words.

Jason smirked, it was time for the new era to come and to do that he'll have to make the old burn.  
Slowly he stepped down from the throne, carefully avoiding corpses that filled the room.

He stopped right next to one that caused all his suffering.

"Burn him, i don't want a part of him left" he said gesturing to beheaded corpse of once their great leader. Not many joined him in his quest for power, not many had believed that street runt will succeed but he did and now after full year of rebelling he was finally here and all others had no choice but to kneel or, Jason looked around the room smirking , there was more dead than living in it.

"I hope none of you wants to end like your fallen comrades "His voice was chilling to the bone with promise of violence but with amused edge none the less.

__________  
Dick sighed glaring at the teens  in front of  him, why did he have to babysit  again?, he had more important things to do, like taking down new players in Gotham.

"Tim, common is it really that important ?"he asked 

The oldest of the bunch nodded.

It's my favorite show Dick and they lost the bet, we get the big screen" , and all Dick's hopes about him being the most reasonable fell in the water.

"Steph ?" Girl just snorted, she was not backing down just to piss him of,Dick knew she complained whole day about watching some nerdy show .

"Jon, please"his voice became few octaves higher, turning towards Superboy, undoubtedly best kid of the bunch

" I am sorry Dick but I promised Dami I'll stand by him" boy didn't meet his pleading eyes.

Turning towards glaring Damian Dick didn't even try instead he chose to turn back towards Tim

'Listen up Timmy here is the deal  I give ya alibi and keys of Batmobile and you leave the boys to watch that docunentary and when you get back you have every right to use the big screen"If he could Dick would have patted himself on the back, he'll be rid of all of them.>

Tim looked towards Steph who eagerly nodded

"Deal" Tim grinned,Steph saluted and two marched out of the living room.

"Grayson" Damian started "what have you done"last part of the sentence sounded more like a hiss than words as cold gray eyes bore holes in him

" Ended this feud " Dick returned calmly , ruffing boys'  heads as he went out to call Babs .

_________  
Standing in the throne room never felt better, Jason smirked, probably because it is his now.

His and only his, haha, he doesn't remember what is the last time he felt so good.

Him, common slave now the Demon's Head , acidic green eyes landed on the place where pool of blood was only few days ago. Ra's' blood .

Killing his master definitely held more  personal pleasure then need to kill old bastard.

Grinning to himself Jason looked down towards two unfortunate souls that were forced on their knees.

"Do you plead guilty for treason of your leader ?" Jade's cold voice rang through the room freezing prisoners in place.

"We are loyal to Ra's al Ghul not this rat" larger of the two spoke up, unmistakable voice of David Cain.

Smaller just nodded, confirming her father's words.

"Al Ghuls are dead and if you don't yield to new Demon's head you will die too"Jade spat at two Cains already calling two ninjas to behead them.

Jason ignored David, he hated the man, piece of human garbage deserved death but his sister didn't .

"Kill only the master, student didn't know better" Jason told his men, who nodded and went to stand right next to David.

Jade gave him betrayed look and a glare before turning towards traitors .

"In the name of Demon's head you David Cain are going to face death for highest form of treason " Jade took off the mask and gave him hers deadliest look, pulling out her own sword" any  final words ?"

"Long live Ra's Al Ghul, long live the Demo-" before Cain could finish his little speech Jade swung her sword and cut of Cain's  head right of his shoulders .

Blood splattered everywhere  most of it going on Cassandra who only blankly stared at the corpse.

"Ma ster" his baby sister whispered breaking out of trance and lodging at   Cheshire.

Chains strained and two ninjas pulled out their swords, ready to die fighting for their new Master.

Jade jumped out of the way and laughed

"What's wrong Cassy honey , ya miss Daddy ?" She  taunted flickering her bloody sword towards Cassandra further covering her in blood.

"Enough" Jason spoke calmly, doing his best to imitate Ra's, he rose enjoying the feeling of his silk robes trailing behind him.

All eyes glued to the  floor, bowing before him, he had to resist a smile.

"Cassandra Cain, you are allowed to stay in the League and live as long as you follow it's rules" he stopped before her, feeling the blood under his feet" do you bow before me"

She nodded and shifted a little

"Good"

____________

With Bruce god knows where responsibility of the leader always fell on Dick, who on normal days loved bossing them around but now he just looked weary, tired too but mostly weary.

He spent every moment of every day staring at the security feeds or checking on Damian who in turn spent most of his time either scowling and warding of any conversation or trailing behind Alfred or petting other Alfred while talking with Jon over the phone.

All in all may wasn't the favorite month in Wayne household, and it's not as if Steph didn't get why, but she didn't understand why everyone acted the way they did, yes brat died but all of them were turning blind eye to it, instead of trying to talk with each other and spending the day in the best way they could boys decided to prevent same from happening because something shitty will happen every year on the same day to a same person, fuck logic right ?

"Steph you are not paying attention " Tim called out sending his girlfriend a hard glare

"Hn ?" Stephanie was to deep in her musing to give her idiotic boyfriend time of the day, monolouges were way more interesting than watching some space doctor who flew with his small but big blue police box.

"Steph i would advise you to stop staring at demon spawn unless you want your eyes poked out" His tone was no bullshit one, but blonde just couldn't take him seriously, his Bruce imitations were too amusing

"Lil brat wouldn't do that, 'sides he's outside with Alf,ain't no way he could get to me" Steph said, still watching little brat sketch the rose.

"You would be surprised" was all he said before returning his absolute attention to the screen where doctor met yet another girl, but Tim did rub a scar under his left eye leaving Steph with more questions then answer

Sighing dramatically Steph stood up"See ya 'round, nerdy" with that she walked out of the room 

" Proud of it" was the last thing she heard before marching towards Grandfather's clock

Steph shook her head and chuckled small smile gracing her lips at her boyfriend's antics, being with him was totally worth the bullshit she had go through with him

"Stephanie, could you help me out?" Dick sounded worse than last night and when she looked at him Steph was sure he didn't move since it either, big dark bags rested under his eyes and his hair was still flat as it was when he only just took of the cowl 

"Sure what's up" She raised her head to stare at the screen, where extremely guarded warehouse laid, there was around dozen men just on the front and sides and cameras, alarms and weapons weren't lacking either.

"Looks like we have new players in the city" she muttered

"Yeah and quite powerful by looks of it too,could you contact all available members of Family, we need to step up our game" With that Dick rose and went to take the cowl but Steph took his arm.

"No, go rest we need -"

"We need Bruce and if he can do it so can I"He still sounded exhausted but tried to hide it behind shaky resolve.

Stephanie shook her head

"No, we need Batman and you can't be him when you can't keep your eyes open"They stared at each other before he sighed and limped away.

Steph smiled, maybe Barbie was right, maybe she could do this, she could continue her idol's legacy 

 __________________

Staring at her new master Cass shifted a little.  
This wasn't alright , she wasn't supposed to be able to sit and be this close to him.

Sharing the meal with the Demon's head ?!

She must be having a nightmare , this....this was unheard of.

"You didn't touch your food Cass" 

Acidic green eyes met hers big brown ones, her Master gestured to the food still infront of her... Too expensive food, she was just a servant.

Slowly bowing as to apologize Cass raised her hands to take sticks, she didn't want to disappoint her new master.

After few minutes of silence Master rose, he was tense, his stance was rigid,shoulders drawn and mouth set in thin line,jaw clenched, even his eyes seemed greener than usual

Did she do something ?

With a deep sigh he sat back down, he rested his searching gaze on her, scowling lines never left his face but now he just looked tired .

"What am i going to do with you huh ?"While trying to come of lighthearted Master sounded like anything but.

Looking away again Cass felt ashamed, of course she was cause of his suffering.

"That's not what i meant " he whispered softly

"I don't want you to be here Cass but in same time i do"Why wouldn't he want her here ?, was she that useless?.

Cass thickly swallowed and clenched her fists, still staring at the floor she nodded and rose, ready to leave only life she knew.

Her Master rose also and came to stand right next to her but instead of dismissal she was hugged.

"Call me selfish Cass but i don't want to lose you too, i want you to stay here little sister" His voice was so soft, she could feel tears on her forehead, she had a weird feeling he wasn't crying because of her or for her

"I promise you sister we will rule this world" Was the last thing he said before planting kiss on her forehead and exiting

________________p> Damian's scowl deepened and Dick had steel his resolve, it was good plan dammit.

"Robin we'll be fine"

"I remember you saying that before I died" Damian hissed and Dick flinched , that was a low blow.

"And look" Dick gestured towards him" You are fine and healthy "

"Not thanks to you " Voice colder this time, Damian didn't even  spare him a glance as he grappled away.

Dick followed his suite and jumped of the rooftop while calling out

"I am hurt little wing, I am hurt" He heard really loud scoff as Damian landed

"I was the one who got gutted Batman" Damian whispered darkly as he pulled out two batarangs out of his utility belt

"Touche " Dick nodded and crouched down next to him, it was true anyway, five years have past since that day and Damian still got upset when they wanted to talk about it , he had every right to but talking is best way to help, even if sarcastic.

Soft  thud cut off any conversation that could have happened afterwards and Dick had few suspicions on who could it be.

"Hello there"he called out knowing full well that his older younger brother lived of sci fi refrences, and coffe, but right now he had only one

" General Kenobi" came  as somewhat robotic reply  from his older younger brother who appeared in front of them.

"Red Robin" Damian acknowledged stiffly , at least boy had manners.

"Hello birdies " Batgirl called out as she appeared right beside Tim " How's it goin "

If Damian's mood could get soarer Stephanie was the way to do it, Dick mused as he moved closer to the fifteen year old .

"Hey little D. wanna make the ambush ?"He whispered, loud enough only for Damian to hear him .

" Of course Batman, who else could do sneak attack , sure not any of you apes" Damian hissed but nothing less Dick could hear the little assassin in him vibrate with joy.

"Wacha talkin' bout " Stephanie whispered from above their heads and gave Dick a start, when did she get there ?

"Nothing of your concern Batgirl" Damian replied stubbornly, never was much if a team player .

"We are making ambush, you go left and me an Robin will from above" Dick responded instead

"Who are we attacking ?" Tim asked, joining them on the edge and watching over the mysterious warehouse .

"Dunno, some big fish though, look at all those guards" While talking Dick gave him binaculars and pointed to hevely armed men who were scattered around the warehouse.

"Let's get this over with" Damian snapped, and stood up which caused Tim who was right behind him to stumble backwards, right on Steph.

"Red" Batgirl screeched as he all but fell on her, and as Stephanie moved to keep them both in balance, Dick noticed something from behind him shift, one after the other, shadows shifted until everything just stopped.

Dick shifted to see if the thee were alright but as soon as he moved smoke rose around them in never stopping wall,  pallets must have exploded all around them .

They were not alone, probably never were and Dick, he  realized that too late

                   __________________

They were captured , his family was somewhere and Damian couldn't reach them what is he going to do , what can he  do ?!

Damian shifted a little, testing his boundaries, no visible way of breaking them or getting the hood of his head  , he got the other three  in this mess and now he is completely useless, as usual.

"Stop twitching child, nobody here will hurt if you cooperate " Annoyed accented voice told him from somewhere beside him, his guard since he woke up, there was another , on other side , neither spoke with him until now, maybe if he gets them to talk they'll tell him where he is .

"I would be a lot calmer if only I knew where I am" Damian responded drily

"You are back in the League master, back where you belong"other voice responded dryly, but difference in tone didn't hide the fact that  voice sounded  almost identical  to the other, maybe bit rougher , must be brothers, Damian concluded .  
   
Analyzing voices kept Damian busy more than words did but once he did pay attention to them reality hit him like a brick wall .

"No" he whispered , no ,he can't be here, they can't take him now. He doesn't want to die ,not again .

"Child are you alright?" Surprised by sudden change in behavior first voice asked and as if noticing Damian's troubles with breathing lifted the hood of his face, allowing him to breathe, and see, but Damian was to deep in panic to see anything .

"What are you doing !?" hissed the second voice in Arabic

"Do you want him dead?!" First voice responded , pointing towards Damian who was still preoccupied with trying to breathe and make  chest pain stop to make any sort of response.

"If Master hears about this -"

"I'll say i did it, don't worry"

"Ll ett m me ggo"Damian whispered uselessly, he knew they won't, he is going to die again.

" What is wrong child ?" First voice asked him, kneeling right beside Damian allowing him to see guard's  face, or some of it, he had teal  blue eyes and long dark curly brown hair which was tied in ponytail on back of his head rest of his face was hidden underneath fiery red mask.

"I don't want to die" Damian answered honestly,not knowing what else to do except do so.

Some sort of cold determination passed over guard's  face and he took Damien's hand.

"You won't be harmed , I swear on my life, child you will be fine " Man told him with so much resolve that Damian almost believed him, almost, he knew person who promised to protect him no matter what and on the end hurt him the most.

"Yes, our master never harms without reason" other told him, there wasn't really any difference between them except coloring of their eyes, while one had teal which contrasted his tanned skin other had hazel which went with it perfectly 

Before he could say anything both guards went rigid  and doors opened .  
____________

Jade could hardly breathe, anticipation was actually killing her. That little brat was alive and he was here , Damian was alive and here !

Steadying herself she turned around to take a look at Jason , who wasn't doing much better. Well actually he was worse than her and unlike her didn't have mask to hide it.

"Open the doors " she barked out knowing that Jason wouldn't trust his  voice,nothing less guards looked towards him for final word and opened them only when he nodded.

Three pairs eyes snapped towards them  but only gray ones shut abruptly as their owner started screaming his soul out

"NO!" Boy trashed in his chains , pulling them in such way it must have hurt.

"STAY AWAY!"Damian screamed as the guards moved to secure him, only calming when they forced him in obedience by squeezing his throat until only choked sobs were heard.

                        _________

Jason could do nothing but stare at the scene before him. Damian , his  little brother was scared,no, teriffied of him.

It hurt to know that even after all these years it hurt Damian. He had hoped wounds would heal , that he'll no longer be in pain , but if this  scene is anything to go by, that's not the case .

Only did Jade bring him out of  his useless musing by stepping on his right foot.

" Enough"he said at last, doing his best not to lash out on any of the guards that were hurting his brother

Both guards moved away and Damian fell to the ground tremors wrecking his body as he struggled to breathe.

"Leave us"Jade ordered as she knelt next to Damian and all guards bowed slowly, waiting to see will the Demon head object but Jason didn't so they left , quiet as the night itself.

"You alright brat ?" Jade asked as she lifted boy's head to examine the bruises that guards left.

Damian muttered something incoherent and continued his tries to wrestle out of the hands of his captors, but it only served to harm him further as the chains cut deep enough in his skin to bleed.

"Damian stop, you are hurting yourself" Jason tried, knowing well that nothing will stop little devil from doing what he wants, did he change at all?, Jason wondered.

To his surprise Damian stopped struggling and cold blue eyes which never shone with so much hatred before, at least not at him, met his acidic green.

"Since when do you care Todd" It took Jason a second too long to come out of trance just catch Damian's words but when he did it washed over him like cold water, chilling him to the bone,what was he doing ?

Stumbling backwards as if hit Jason broke the eye contact and all but ran out of the cell

"Jason, come back here" Jade barked as she went after him, leaving fifteen year old all alone

**Author's Note:**

> I am crying in the corner too, i am sorry i made you read that, i just wanna thank everyone who pretty much forced me to write this


End file.
